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True/False/Cannot Say
This concise and efficient study guide lays the foundations for the most popular
type of verbal reasoning tests, currently used by the leading assessment
companies in the world, including SHL, Kenexa, Saville, Cut-e, Onetest and
more. We advise reading this guide from start to end, picking up any tip that
suits your thinking process.
2. Choosing the first strategy, read each passage once very carefully. Add the
meaning of one sentence to the one before it, trying to draw a mental "map" of
the information and the logic in the passage.
3. If a sentence confuses you, reread it and the one before it if necessary, to try
and fully absorb to information to the fullest extent.
4. If the meaning of a word or phrase is unclear to you, try to grasp its meaning
by its context. This is very important, since the verbal reasoning section
examines both your comprehension and vocabulary skills.
5. Notice extreme words that refer to: Exclusion, inclusion, prohibition, negation,
etc. Remember that the relationship between the different parts of the passage
are sometimes more important than their actual content.
6. Pay close attention to qualifiers, since they are frequently used as determiners
for the correct answer. Only extreme qualifiers such as all/none/always/never
apply to the entire group of their object. Qualifiers such as few/some,
many/most, still leave place for exceptions.
7. Some students believe that it is pointless to read the passage first without
knowing the questions. This is not true - it is to be decided upon selfexperience, and by trial and error.
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8. If you choose the strategy of starting by reading the question, you should scan
the passage cursorily and locate the relevant section of the text.
Doing so, carefully read adjacent sentences, and try to infer the correct answer
from them.
9. In most cases, the statements are ordered with respect to the passage's
progress.
2. A statement is also True if you can correctly infer its content from the
information.
Notice that your inference doesn't over generalise the details of the
passage, even if it seems like a definitive conclusion. Any seemingly
correct answer which presents a broader inference than the one supported
by the passage falls into the "Cannot Say" criteria.
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False
1. A statement is False only if it directly contradicts something mentioned in the
passage. You must find that piece of information in the passage that confirms
the contradiction.
2. Once again, the statement could be testing the accuracy of your reading
comprehension skills and your vocabulary. If you have trouble understanding
a part of the passage, try to understand the broader context and ask yourself
if the statement is reasonable or not in light of the passage as a whole.
3.
Keep in mind that the fact that a statement is saying something different
than the passage doesn't make it instantly a false one. It could still be a
"Cannot Say" if it doesn't explicitly contradict the passage.
Cannot say
1. Cannot say means that the piece of information you are asked about is simply
not given in the passage and that the passage gives no grounds for correctly
inferring the truth or falsity of the statement.
2. This does not mean to say that this answer is the easiest to get right. On the
contrary, it is often the hardest. The answers True or False are clearer to
discern. The passage either explicitly says the same thing as the statement,
in which case the answer is True, or the passage explicitly contradicts the
statement, in which case the answer is False. To determine that the answer
is Cannot say, you must be sure that the information you need to give the
answers True or False is simply absent from the text. Do not infer something
from the passage unless you are given a clear basis in the passage itself for
doing so.
3. Again, the statement could hypothetically be a true or a false one. You might
even be sure from your personal knowledge about its verity. Yet, if I
contradicted in the passage, or could not be inferred from it, according to the
rules you Cannot say.
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In 2001, a child in the trial developed leukaemia, thought to have been induced by a
component in the modified virus, or vector, the researchers used to insert the correct gene
into the boy's cells. Of the 30 children worldwide who have been treated with gene
therapy for another form of SCID, marked by a deficiency in the enzyme adenosine
deaminase (ADA), none has developed leukaemia. Yet medical researchers maintain that
gene therapy is still a better alternative than the conventional treatment for X-linked
SCID in some children because 19 of the 20 children who have received gene therapy for
X-linked SCID are still alive. When told these odds, all parents of children with X-linked
SCID have opted for gene therapy.
An optional "mental map" for this passage could look like this:
Statement 1
Only one child with ADA deficiency related SCID got leukaemia.
This statement is False, since it directly contradicts a sentence within the
passage: "Of the 30 children worldwide who have been treated with gene therapy
It is a bit misleading since it is also mentioned that "a child in the trial developed
leukaemia", and in addition "19 of the 20 children who have received gene
therapy for X-linked SCID are still alive". The combinations of these two
sentences might give rise to an inference that the child who had leukaemia is the
20th child. This may be true, but it is not true that this child had an ADA
deficiency related SCID. Note how this observation is drawn directly from the
mental map.
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Statement 2
The remedy for SCID with the lowest rate of success currently is a bone marrow
transplant from an immunologically unmatched parent.
We were introduced with 2 methods for treating SCID. If, as the passage states
first, "The best treatment for the disease is a bone marrow transplant from an
immunologically matched sibling" and, second, "the success of gene therapy now
rivals or betters that seen in unmatched donor situations" we understand that
the treatment with the same or lowest rate of success is a bone marrow
transplant from an immunologically unmatched parent. Therefore, the answer
is True.
Again, this observation can be drawn directly from the mental map.
Statement 3
Siblings are always immunologically matched.
Let's solve this question using the elimination method. Although this method is
lengthy, it is good for practice purposes, as it helps sharpen critical reasoning
skills.
The passage discusses "an immunologically matched sibling" and "unmatched